Monday December 12, 2022
The Business Times —
The effects of human activity from climate change to pollution are “devastating” marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far threatened with extinction, the latest Red List of Threatened Species showed on Friday.
The report’s release coincides with a UN summit on nature in Montreal where the UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged countries to end an “orgy of destruction” and pass a deal to halt and reverse habitat loss.
More than 1,550 of some 17,903 marine plants and animals assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature are at risk of extinction, according to the latest list which acts as a barometer of biodiversity and is published several times a year.
“It shows that we are having quite a devastating impact on marine species,” Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List, told Reuters.